Letter to my mother

"Letter to My Mother" is a visual and literary body of work created by artist Branislav Jankic that seeks to raise awareness of and change the conversation around addiction in order to lift the stigma and create an international support system for those suffering from this disease. Particularly, mothers. When the artists mother, a former prescription drug and alcohol addict, was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2012, Jankic, who had experienced his own struggles with addiction throughout his teenage years, began writing a letter to his mother expressing his regrets for their dismantled relationship and his misunderstanding of her struggles, hoping to show both love and forgiveness. On a quest to re-asses and reconcile his relationship with his mother after this painful diagnosis, he set off on a journey to bring to the forefront a narrative that is often left hidden to produce a dialogue about motherhood and addiction outside of its stereotypically taboo associations. He was hoping to find pieces of his mother amongst other mothers suffering from addiction in the United States, which Jankic considers his home, ultimately creating one large amalgamated portrait of her through their photographs and letters. -- [http://lettertomymother.us/synopsis/].